New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team had a strong day Friday at the Ray Furney Classic at Lawrenceburg, going 2-0 to win its pool. The Dragons beat Lawrenceburg 77-35 in Friday's first game. They then used a big first half to build a 22-point halftime lead in an 83-59 victory over Castle in the second game. In the opener, the Dragons and Lawrenceburg traded first-half runs before the Dragons built a 34-26 halftime lead. NP then dominated the second half, starting with 15 straight points to go up 49-26. The Dragons extended their lead to 55-30 by the quarter's end, outscoring the Tigers 21-4 in the quarter. After surrendering the first basket of the fourth, the Dragons then went on a 17-point run to extend their lead to 68-32. All 11 Dragons who played scored. Julius Gizzi tallied 20 points, while Ben Slagley had 17 and Moses Haynes 10. Slagley also had seven rebounds, while Haynes had eight assists. In addition, Evan Darrah scored seven, Austin McMahan six, Eli Parrett five, Keagan Harrison, Will Davison and Liam Atkinson three each, Axtyn Hamblen two and Sam Hirschy one. In the second game. the teams had a back-and-forth first quarter, after which the Dragons led 24-19 on three 3-pointers and 11 points from Haynes. They extended the advantage to 49-27 at the half, outscoring the Knights 25-8 in the second quarter. Castle went on a run to cut the lead to 14 early in the third, but the Dragons quickly pushed it back to 20 and kept the lead there the rest of the game. Gizzi led the Dragons with 21 points. Haynes added 18, while McMahan had a career-high 15 points. Slagley scored 10. Davison added eight points. Harrison had four, Darrah three, while Hamblen and Parrett scored two each. The 3A No. 6 Dragons (7-1) will face either Silver Creek or Fort Wayne Blackhawk in Saturday's 11:30 a.m. semifinal. The winner will play in the 8 p.m. title game, while the loser will play in the 6:30 p.m. consolation game at Lawrenceburg High School.